Reconnection of two tubular structures (e.g. colon to colon or even colon to stomach) has been a tedious and difficult task. Because of the nature of the material that passes within the colon, contamination containment and leakage prevention are desired. To this end circular staplers have been adopted as a means to quickly reconnect these ends of the colon with one or more concentric rings of staples. Often however the surgeon goes though many steps to insure that there are no leaks in this reconnection. It is not uncommon for dye to be placed into the colon to indicate leaks, or, using pressurized saline to pressure test the staple lines for leaks. If a leak is found, over-sewing the region is a common solution.
Thus, a challenge in joining two pieces of intestinal tissue together in a surgery such as a Duodenojejunostomy, is the reconnection of the two tubular intestinal structures in a leak-proof manner. And if a leak is found, being able to quickly, simply, and easily patch the leak.
Other devices such as stents are used to align and bring together luminal structures such as the intestine. Unlike the rigid stents, intestinal structures are dynamic and use peristalsis to constrict and move intestinal contents. The use of a stent in combination with a material and an adhesive are known such as that taught in U.S. Pat. No. 5,254,113 by Peter Wilk, which is hereby incorporated by reference in its entirety. The collagen based material used by Wilk offers adhesive advantages when used with laser welding but is not porous. Many types of adhesives address the needs of surgery such as adhesives and adhesive initiators disclosed in U.S. Application 20040190975 by Goodman et al. which is hereby incorporated by reference in its entirety.
Consequently, a significant need exists for a method of quickly and easily joining two portions of intestinal tissue together in an end-to-end anastomosis that overcomes the deficiencies of the previous methods, reduces surgical time, offers advantages not available with previous devices and methods, and can restore natural body functions at the surgical site.